Friday, June 10, 2016

The SBB Gottardo2016 stop2go

I have a weird sort of soft spot for Mondaine's railway watches. Traveling around Switzerland by train, I clap eyes on the Mondaine clocks at nearly every stop. The watch itself is also quite cool and in fairness, it has become for many synonymous with Switzerland. While this latest iteration might not be for everyone, I have to say that it is a pretty cool twist on the original.

Courtesy of Mondaine

It is the stop2go series so you have the clever hesitation by the second hand when it reaches 12. But what I find draws me beyond that (which admittedly might turn some people off) is the bezel. It is crafted from the driver’s cab door of an Ae6/6. I realize that not everyone is into train spotting, so here is a breakdown of the Ae6/6 courtesy of the good folks at Wikipedia -

The Ae 6/6 is a heavy electric locomotive used by the SBB-CFF-FFS. It is sometimes also referred to as canton locomotive ("Kantonslokomotive"), because the first 25 locomotives were named after the cantons, and carried the canton's coat of arms on the side and chrome embellishments (a single raised stripe on each side and three raised stripes on each end), and the Swiss coat of arms on the front, between the chrome stripes. These adornments made them internationally famous. The other 95 locomotives received the names of capital cities of Swiss cantons, and other towns and cities, but without the chrome embellishments. The namings were held as ceremonies in the respective cities.

Originally designed for heavy services on the Gotthard route, as many Swiss locomotives were, the Ae 6/6 was one of the classic Gotthard locomotives.

All locomotives were originally painted in the SBB CFF FFS green livery, with the number, and either SBB CFF, or SBB FFS on each side, all raised numerals in chrome. Nowadays about half are painted red, and a proportion of the fleet have been repainted in SBB Cargo livery, with all raised chrome embellishments removed apart from the Swiss coat of arms on each end. These locomotives have been renumbered (as class 610) in line with the current Swiss numbering scheme

Hence, the bezel is green.

Courtesy of Mondaine

The case back bears the official Gottardo2016 logo celebrating the Gottardo tunnel.

It is due in the US later this summer, but available in Switzerland now. I might need to lean on a Swiss friend to pick one up for me ; )

3 comments:

Great story, thank you. This watch model with the bezel taken from the Ae6/6 locomotive, limited to 2016 units only, just was released for the opening of the worlds longest train tunnel thru the Gotthard mountain, 57km in lenght. you can buy the watch online, http://shop.mondaine.com/enjoy

hello and thank you, a true and great story. This watch model just got released, celebrating the opening of the world longest tunnel thru the Gotthard mountain in Switzerland. It is limited to 2016 pieces worldwide as the door of the retired Ae6/6 locomotive did not give more material to produce the bezels of this watch (and you still can see marks of use, on each bezel different marks). It will be a collectors item soon, and you can buy it online directly from the factory http://shop.mondaine.com/ enjoy this unique piece